Chapter 300 On the Verge of a Breakthrough
“Boom!”
There was a loud explosion mid-air.
This time, Fang Qiu did not hold back at all and his internal force exploded from him in an instant. It landed square on the large toad’s body.
“Croak...”
The toad croaked in horror.
Its skin immediately hardened when Fang Qiu’s palm Landed on its head. Its skin that had been as smooth as mud instantly hardened to from an armor that resembled clumps of mud.
“Hmm?”
Fang Qiu was surprised.
He didn’t expect the large toad to possess such a move in its arsenal.
Nonetheless, he wasn’t too worried because he could clearly sense that the large toad’s move was only used for defensive purposes and that it wouldn’t be able to harm him. Its defensive move will not be able to block his attack.
Just as he thought.
“Bang!”
Cracks immediately formed on the large toad’s armor. It didn’t break apart completely but the large force immediately sent the large toad plummeting to the ground like a meteor. Then it landed with a loud swoosh on the marsh.
Elder Yi watched in astonishment by the edge of the marsh.
“Amazing.”
Elder Yi’s eyes widened and he exclaimed in surprise when he saw how easily Fang Qiu was beating the large toad into pulp.
Mid-air.
Fang Qiu landed gracefully back to the ground.
He chuckled when he saw the turbulent marsh waters below.
He saw that the toad that had crashed back into the marsh was not seriously injured but its armor at its head had broken apart; it looked as though its skin was peeling.
“Croak...”
The large toad croaked in panic and dived back into the marsh waters when it saw Fang Qiu descending.
“You’re afraid,” Fang Qiu said with a loud chuckle.
He had clearly seen fear reflected in the large toad’s eyes.
He guessed that it wouldn’t be causing trouble for some time.
“Bingdi Lotus!”
He suddenly whipped his head around.
Although the fight earlier hadn’t been intense, it had a huge impact on the marsh. The large toad smashed into the marsh waters twice which resulted in large waves being created in this marsh.
The Bingdi Lotus grew in the middle of the marsh and it was also located in a concave part of the marsh.
Would the large rolling waves earlier send the Bingdi Lotus right into the marsh waters?
Fang Qiu was extremely anxious.
He turned around and saw that the Bingdi Lotus was perfectly fine. The misty white lights circling around it were still visible. It seemed as though it was set apart from the rest of the world as though everything that happened had nothing to do with it.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
He immediately flew upward and stretched out his hand to pluck the Bingdi Lotus.
However, a piercing sound suddenly ripped through the air.
“Swish!”
“Hmm?”
Fang Qiu tensed and he didn’t even turn to see where that sound originated from before he quickly dodged.
He had just moved aside when he saw a huge rock move as swiftly as a secret weapon and hit the Bingdi Lotus.
The next moment.
“Gurgle...”
The large rock that smashed against the Bingdi Lotus suddenly shook and twisted to the side, as though it had been sapped of all energy, before falling into the marsh.
“A magnetic field,” Fang Qiu thought to himself and an idea came to him.
His curiosity was piqued by this scene.
He knew that all Heaven and Earth Treasures were extremely rare and they were known as Heaven and Earth Treasures because they could absorb and gather the energy and spiritual Qi of the universe. The universal energy is an invisible and intangible substance but it had powerful effects. Once the universal energy was gathered in substantial amounts, it could generate an amazing effect. Due to the lack of research on this matter, this effect was known as a magnetic field.
Clearly, the Bingdi Lotus had dodged the blow due to its magnetic field.
“Hmm?”
Just as Fang Qiu was curiously examining the Bingdi Lotus, he heard a loud exclamation, “A Bingdi Lotus! I can’t believe my luck. I managed to stumble upon an Earth Treasure while taking a shortcut to the city.”
A figure ripped across the air and approached the Bingdi Lotus.
He took a closer look and saw that the newcomer was extremely beautiful.
The newcomer was a middle-aged man with extremely fair skin and a sharp chin. His hair was shorn short and there was a scar in the middle of each side of his eye.
The moment this man appeared, he didn’t even spare Fang Qiu a glance before he reached out to pluck the Bingdi Lotus.
“Stop right there!” Fang Qiu said as he grabbed hold of the middle-aged man’s arm.
“Haha,” the middle-aged man glanced at Fang Qiu before he said coldly. “Get lost!”
“You’re the one who should get lost,” Fang Qiu said as his eyes narrowed.
He suddenly pulled at the middle-aged man’s arm and sent a heavy punch toward that man’s chest.
“Humph,” the middle-aged man scoffed. He wasn’t afraid of Fang Qiu at all and curled his left hand into a fist to meet Fang Qiu’s attack.
Their mighty strength collided!
They both were forced to take a step backward.
“Grade five!”
Fang Qiu looked at the middle-aged man in surprise.
He clearly sensed that this man was a grade-five Martial Superior when they clashed with each other earlier. However, this man had only opened seven meridians which placed him among the mid or lower-tier grade-five Martial Superiors.
On the other hand, the middle-aged man’s face darkened. “You’re just a puny martial arts practitioner. How dare you try to go up against me?”
Then, he yelled coldly, “Get lost!”
As he said those words, a powerful blast of Qi power exploded from his body.
“Boom!”
His internal Qi circled around him and charged with an invincible force toward Fang Qiu.
“Come on,” Fang Qiu thought to himself.
He could already feel that his internal force was about to reach its bottleneck. Unfortunately, he hadn’t met a worthy match who was strong enough to force his cultivation to progress.
This was the right timing.
A grade-five Martial Superior would be a worthy match indeed!
He mentally suppressed his true cultivation to martial artist-level and the only part of him that used internal Qi was his legs.
He had to do so because he was fighting on a marsh and would have to use his internal Qi to prevent himself from sinking into the marshy waters.
“You must be courting death,” the middle-aged man said when he saw that Fang Qiu did not make any move to flee but instead, he was proactively issuing a challenge.
He scoffed and moved both his hands and legs as he clashed with Fang Qiu.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Loud explosions could be heard from their repeated clashes.
The reflections of both the middle-aged man and Fang Qiu were locked in an intense battle and no one backed down.
As they fought, the middle-aged man let out a loud exclamation.
“What?”
He realized that Fang Qiu was not using any internal Qi in his punches at all but instead, he was purely relying on internal force!
More importantly, the strength of Fang Qiu’s internal force was comparable to his grade-five Martial Superior internal Qi. Although Fang Qiu’s internal force was slightly weaker, it seemed unbelievable that a martial arts practitioner could possess such an incredibly powerful internal force.
“Are you John Doe from Jiangjing?” He asked as though the thought had suddenly occurred to him.
“So what if I am?” Fang Qiu said coldly.
“Haha...” The middle-aged man burst into laughter.
“Fancy finding you here. I was on my way to challenge you but I didn’t expect to run into you here.”
“I’d like to see if you’re really as strong as the rumors make you out to be!”
Then, the middle-aged man immediately launched his strongest attack and frantically tried to subdue Fang Qiu.
On the other hand, Fang Qiu was in a disadvantageous position and the middle-aged man was so strong that he was almost unable to retaliate but this made him even more excited.
As the middle-aged man tried to subdue him, Fang Qiu continually forced his body to become stronger and this method of almost destroying himself to grow stronger caused his internal force that had been stuck in limbo for the longest time to increase once more.
Although it wasn’t a significant increase, it continued to increase at a steady rate.
“Smack! Smack! Smack!”
The middle-aged man’s attacks became more frenzied.
Fang Qiu felt even more pressure bear down on him and his internal force expanded at faster rate.
“I refuse to believe that I can’t defeat you!” The middle-aged man started to become more anxious.
He was surprised to find that he was only able to subdue Fang Qiu despite pulling out all stops but he was unable to defeat him.
This kind of record was simply an insult to him as a grade-five Martial Superior.
On the other hand, Fang Qiu was thoroughly enjoying this fight.
His internal force continued to strengthen bit by bit and he gradually sensed that he was about to reach his bottleneck.
All of a sudden, the middle-aged man let out an angry howl and his internal Qi exploded from within him.
“Ah...”
He quickened the speed of his fists and feet as he tried to defeat Fang Qiu by attempting to break past his limits.
“Hmm?”
Fang Qiu’s eyes widened in surprise as he moved quickly to block the middle-aged man’s blows.
He wasn’t surprised by the force of the middle-aged man’s attacks but rather, he had sensed it.
He was about to reach his bottleneck!
His internal force had increased to its maximum limits and his strength had increased significantly. Nonetheless, his internal force continued to increase rapidly which made him both happy and surprised.
He was happy because the moment he was waiting for had finally arrived.
He was surprised because he would have to withstand a strong attack from his opponent which would either leave him dead or seriously injured if he were to breakthrough at this moment.
He immediately clenched his hands into fists at that thought.
He quickly evaded the middle-aged man’s attacks and at the same time, he took several steps backward. When he stopped, he concentrated all his internal force on his right hand.
His hand suddenly shot out toward the middle-aged man who followed after him in close pursuit and sent a strong punch toward his opponent.
“Bang!”
There was an ear-splitting bang.
They collided.
Fang Qiu’s powerful internal force burst out of him.
“What?” The middle-aged man turned pale when Fang Qiu’s fist landed against him.
He was shocked and alarmed!
He immediately stared at Fang Qiu in disbelief.
The next moment, he was sent flying by Fang Qiu’s terrifying punch.
On the other hand, Fang Qiu threw his head back and let out a long howl.
“Ah—”
His howl was earth-shaking!
At the same time, there was a sudden breeze all around the marsh.
Upon a closer look, the large toad that had quietly stuck out its head and was about to secretly eat the Bingdi Lotus while Fang Qiu’s attention was diverted shivered subconsciously at Fang Qiu’s howl and immediately sank back into the depths of the marsh. It didn’t dare to make another appearance.
Mid-air.
“I’m about to breakthrough!”
Fang Qiu’s brow arched.
He clearly felt countless of Qi of the sky and earth swarm toward him and enter his meridians.
“Stop it!”
He clenched his jaw and forcefully stopped his internal force from expanding any further. He brought his impending breakthrough to a halt.
He knew that this wasn’t the right moment to breakthrough.
Fang Qiu glared at the middle-aged man who had been sent flying by him and said, “Get lost!”
The middle-aged man’s face darkened.
“You’d better watch out,” he said before he turned to flee.
He knew that he wasn’t Fang Qiu’s match at the moment and moreover, Fang Qiu was on the verge of a breakthrough. If Fang Qiu were to breakthrough while they were fighting, he would definitely be doomed.
Clearly, a Bingdi Lotus wasn’t worth more than his life!